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Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 phase-locked opacity variants differ in virulence phenotypes

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a leading human pathogen that can cause serious localized and invasive diseases. Pneumococci can undergo a spontaneous and reversible phase variation that is reflected in colony opacity, which allows the population to adapt to different host environments. Generally, transparent variants are adapted for nasopharyngeal colonization whereas opaque variants are associated with invasive disease. In recent work, colony phase variation was shown to occur by means of recombination events to generate multiple alleles of the hsdS targeting domain of a DNA methylase complex, which mediates epigenetic changes in gene expression. A panel of isogenic strains were created in the well-studied S. pneumoniae TIGR4 background that are “locked” in the transparent (n=4) or opaque (n=2) colony phenotype. The strains had significant differences in colony size which were stable over multiple passages in vitro and in vivo. While there were no significant differences in adherence for the phase-locked mutant strains to immortalized epithelial cells, biofilm formation and viability was reduced for opaque variants in static assays. Nasopharyngeal colonization was stable for all strains, but the mortality rate differed between them. Transcript profiling by RNA-seq analyses revealed that expression of certain virulence factors were increased in a phase-specific manner. As epigenetic regulation of phase variation (often referred to as phasevarion) is emerging as a common theme for mucosal pathogens, these studies serve as a model for future studies of host-pathogen interactions.

ORGANISM(S): Streptococcus pneumoniae

PROVIDER: GSE103364 | GEO | 2017/09/21

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA401879

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Pyruvate oxidase encoded by spxB is a major virulence factor in the human respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. During aerobic growth, SpxB synthesizes large amounts of H2O2 and acetyl phosphate, which can serve as a phosphoryl group donor to response regulators and be converted to ATP. SpxB is the main source of the millimolar concentrations of H2O2 produced and tolerated by pneumococcus, despite its lack of a catalase. We report here the first cis- and trans-acting regulatory elements for spxB transcription. These elements were identified in a genetic screen, similar to those used previously for phase variants, for spontaneous mutations that caused colonies of virulent serotype 2 strain D39 to change from a transparent to an opaque appearance. Six of the seven opaque colonies recovered (frequency of 3 x 10-5) were impaired for SpxB function. Modeling suggested that two mutations changed amino acids in SpxB required for FAD cofactor or subunit binding. One mutation deleted a cis-acting adjacent direct repeat required for optimal spxB transcription. The other three independent mutations created the same frameshift near the start of a trans-acting regulatory gene designated as spxR. The SpxR protein contains helix-turn-helix, CBS, and HotDog domains implicated in DNA, adenosine, and CoA compound binding, respectively, consistent with the idea that SpxR positively regulates spxB transcript amount in response to energy and metabolic state rather than oxidative state. Finally, microarray analyses of a null spxB or a spxR mutant revealed the presence of a new oxidative stress response in pneumococcus and unexpectedly demonstrated that SpxR strongly positively regulates the transcript amount of the strH exoglycosidase gene, which like spxB, has been implicated in host colonization. Keywords: genetic modification Bacterial strains were grown exponentially in rich (BHI) media at 37C and an atmosphere of 5% CO2, and were processed as described in the related Sample records. Samples were collected from three independent biological replicates and included one dye swap. Data were normalized using the Lowess (subgrid) method without background subtraction.

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Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 phase-locked opacity variants differ in virulence phenotypes

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